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The Chess Boxing Heptalogy
What is the Heptalogy? The Chess Boxing Heptalogy is the name given to the seven collective movies of the Chessboxing series. Together, the seven form an epic tale that spans over the life of the protagonist, Ah Pao. Normally, this kind of practice is seen in Hollywood when singular movies become popular enough to warrant sequels. In this case however, Joseph Kuo already planned ahead to make enough material to warrant another six sequels. Movies of the Heptalogy The Mystery of Chessboxing: Complete Edition After the death of his father at the hands of the Ghost Faced Killer, Ah Pao seeks to learn Kung Fu to get revenge. Includes extra scenes removed for the international release outside of Taiwan. Chessboxing: The Next Level One year after the death of the Ghost Faced Killer, Ah Pao continues to master the Chessboxing style before master Chi Tzu Tien succumbs to his old age. However, the ghosts of Ah Pao's past come back to haunt him, and he's going to need all the help he can get if he wants to truly remain calm and natural! It's not until a notorious group of bandits named the 'Black Hill Gang' come to town that Ah Pao realises that he's going to have to take things to the next level. The Chessboxing style has only begun to evolve! Chess Boxing Rivals Bizarre dreams and grudges from days gone by. Ah Pao is now the worlds strongest fighter, and also the worlds greatest Chess Player. Moley begins to look for other means to defeat his rival, to which he discovers and ancient grudge long brooding in the form of ancient master Tei Yun Pei! Can Ah Pao defeat Moley now he has master the art of Reverse Chessboxing? Who is this Tei Yun Pei who is pulling the strings? All sorts of drama! Chess Boxing Matrix After many years of keeping it safe, Ah Pao decides to visit the realms of the Chessboxing Matrix. It's here that he realises that nothing is how it seems, and this world is more alike to his own than he could ever imagine! But who is this even Baron who's trying to terrorise the people here? Why is there a man who looks just like Ah Pao's old Master, Simon Yuen? What exactly is the Chessboxing Matrix? All questions WILL BE ANSWERED! Grandmaster of Chess Boxing Years have passed since Ah Pao's journey into the Chess Boxing Matrix, and finally after all this time, Ah Pao has opened the new 'Chi Tzu Tien School of Chessboxing Kung Fu'. However, all goes wrong when one day, a new law passes over the land; Kung Fu has been outlawed! Ah Pao begins his journey once again into the heart of these new affairs, where he reunites with many old friends. Assisted by Moley, the two of test their skills against a variety of fighters and weapons, all ready for a final showdown with the one they called 'Fake Ah-Pao'. This is in fact, the first movie of the 'Chessboxing Destoyer' trilogy that makes up the finale of the story. Chess Boxing Destroyer Out of nowhere, Kung Fu Men are being killed by a mysterious new assassin, calling himself the 'New Ghost Faced Killer', and his final targets are the students and teachers of the Chess Boxing School of Kung Fu! Can anyone stop this new threat, who's Kung Fu surpasses even the might of Double Horse!? His hatred can't be stopped! Chess Boxer's Last Stand The Final Battle against the son of Won Chuen San! Ah Pao, Moley and a group of young fighters venture once more into the realms of the Chess Boxing Matrix, but do they have what it takes to finally solve the Fox, Chicken and Grain puzzle and cross the river into the Final Realm of the Matrix? Can they break out of the Illusionary world of the Labyrinth of Death, and finally defeat the son of the Ghost Faced Killer once and for all? It's the final battle. It's the Chess Boxer's Last Stand! Non Canon Chess Boxing Movies Buddhist Fist & Chess Boxing Known as "Liu xing fei ying" in Taiwan. A controversial entry into the Chess Boxing Franchise, it was later retconned out of the official canon due to fan dissaproval. Set after the events of Chess Boxing Matrix, Ah Pao was now the teacher at the Chess Boxing School of Kung Fu. However, a vicious gang of Buddhist Monks come to take over the Dragon Mountains. The movie then consists of an hour and a half of Ah Pao, Moley and other Chess Boxing fighters defeating Monks in combat, before fighting against the head Monk. The movie was seen by fans to be nothing more than a 'villain of the week' movie which added no extra depth into the series. It was also frowned upon due to the fact that Joseph Kuo used the Chess Boxing franchise as a means to express his hatred of Monks. Joseph Kuo eventually gave a public apology, and went on to continue the story with the true sequel 'Grandmaster of Chess Boxing'. Kuo then made a more modest Monk story in the form of "The 36 Deadly Styles". Overseas Confusion of the Heptalogy Most people believe that the Mystery of Chess Boxing is a standalone Martial Arts film, a simple tale of training and revenge. In reality, the Mystery of Chess Boxing was the first of a series of seven films, all part of the 'Chess Boxing Heptalogy'. The first movie in the series, (The Mystery of Chess Boxing) originally left many open ended hints of there being sequels and further ventures into such concepts such as the Chess Boxing Matrix, and fates of the various characters before and after the original film. However, when the movie was released internationally, many references to things such as the Matrix, the fate of Master Yuen, the So-called Loyal Hens and other hints to sequels were cut, thus simplifying the storyline for a foreign audience. (This version became known as the 'International Edition', as opposed to the original version, which fans began to dub the 'Complete Edition') Further confusion arose when the remaining movies of the Heptalogy remained unreleased outside of Taiwan. Instead, the names of the remaining movies were used to title completely unrelated movies starring the same actors, released by Xenon Entertainment. Further controversy arose when images from the Chessboxing Heptalogy movies were used as the cover images of these unrelated films. "Yi-min Lee was a potential gold mine in the early VHS Rental era. People wanted to see more Ah Pao. In fact, they didn't care what his name was. No-one watched Chessboxing for the plot anyway, so we bought some of Lee's cheaper works and slapped the Chessboxing name onto it. It was fine, no-one even realised for a decade or so..." - Xenon http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-5080.html The most notable and infamous release of this was "Labyrinth of Death" being released overseas as "Chess Boxing Matrix".